Capital Punishment and the Law

Prerequisites: RCC*. This course examines the theory, jurisprudence, and practice of the modern death penalty system in the United States. It focuses on constitutional and statutory issues surrounding death sentences, including: limitations on imposing the death penalty based on factors such as the type of crime, and the role and age of the defendant; pretrial and trial issues such as prosecutorial discretion in charging, jury selection, psychiatric experts, aggravating and mitigating circumstances; right to counsel at trial and on post-conviction review; processes available for judicial and executive review of death sentences; and, limits on carrying out the death penalty such as a defendant’s competency to be executed.